We’ve got a yummy in-your-tummy topic for the newsletter. We are talking about food. Nothing quite encompasses the human experience quite like eating and sharing meals with others. There is a reason nearly all social gatherings involve food and eating.
This could be a valuable tool in your DM Toolbox. What does food mean in your D&D game?
Adding the scents of the foods as one of the first things your player’s character experiences when entering a place could really set the scene. Imagine the difference between the adventuring party getting invited to a fancy party or bursting in on a ghoul lair. In one they are greeted by culinary delights the other odors belong in a charnel house. These experiences don’t have to be quite so extreme to be impactful. Imagine the adventuring party walking into a new tavern they haven’t been to before.
DM to the Player playing a Mountain Dwarf Fighter: “What is a common dish Durgin Steal Fire’s mother used to make?”
Player Playing a Mountain Dwarf Fighter: “Murtha Steal Fire made the best blind sea bass fish chunk stew served in the traditional baked mushroom bread bowl.”
DM: “What did your family’s enclave at the Bright Stone Hold smell like on those days?”
Player Playing a Mountain Dwarf Fighter: “The air would be filled with the hint of brine and intertwined with cooking blind sea bass. Then there were the undertones of earthy mushroom dough baking in the oven. It was slow torture waiting for dinner on those days.”
DM: “That is the exact smell to first entice your nose as you enter the Three Goats in a Breastplate Tavern. There is dwarven cooking at work in this establishment.”
While a fancy dinner party or ghoul lair might have more impact on a D&D campaign sometimes it’s the little things that connect on a deeper level like the familiar smell of their character’s homeland. As a Dungeon Master, it is an opportunity to have some fun with weird or interesting fantasy dishes. Certain foods and dishes might ground your players to specific locations in your D&D world.
Recently in one of my own D&D campaigns, I created a list of foods and beverages that were available for the party to try.
Foods:
- Steamed kreen limbs withdrawn rothe butter and garlic
- Rothe steaks on mushroom planks smothered in mushroom sauce
- Baked mushroom cap bowls filled with blind trout and potato stew
- Fried mushrooms stuffed with rothe cheese
- Rothe Steak Tartare with Spiced Mashed Turnip
- Lichen, mushroom, and turnip salad with a spicy vinaigrette dressing
Alcoholic Beverages
- Shroom Doom Ale
- Honeyed Turnip Mead
- A single keg of Grugnak Ale with several tankards by it complete with fish skeleton garnish
- Aged mushroom wine
- Quallafa’s Grand Whiskey
- Grimoora Gold Rum
- Lichen Liquor
This is from our Under the Dome D&D game. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic D&D world. Pockets of civilizations live under magical domes that filter out chaos magic. Because of this land on the surface is at a premium. Fishing, farming, and raising livestock happens beneath the world’s surface in our version of the Underdark.
No Comments